Spotlight

Extremely Lucky & Incredibly Cast

Boy responds to game-show ad. Boy wins gobs of money on Jeopardy! Boy is called to audition for film adaptation of best-selling novel by Oscar-nominated director. If you’ve heard this one before—well, you haven’t. Thomas Horn, the 14-year-old star of Stephen Daldry’s much-anticipated Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, came to acting by way—perhaps unprecedented in dramatic annals—of intellectual curiosity.

Last year, Horn saw the “Kids Week” edition of Jeopardy! advertised while watching the show and, after discussing it with his parents, tried out. A few months later, he went on, taking home $31,800. (What of the winnings? “Certainly not squandered,” though Horn gently declines to elaborate.) The performance did not go unnoticed. Not long after, Horn was asked to audition for Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, the film based on Jonathan Safran Foer’s 2005 hit novel of the same name. Having won the role of Oskar Schell, whose adventures involve a mysterious key found among his father’s possessions after his death on 9/11, he stars alongside Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock.

Whether or not he pursues acting, Horn has likely earned his spot on some future installment of “Celebrity” Jeopardy!, though one trembles for the famous opposition. Who knows, by then he may even merit his own question, an eventuality worthy of his curious character. As Oskar’s own, vigorously postmodern narrative begins: What The?